unhealthy fundraising

The Herald Sun, Neil Wilson, 31October 2007

 

A survey conducted by The Parents Jury, who advocate that all Australian schools should provide supportive
environments for healthy eating and regular physical activity, has found that most parents do not want their
children’s schools raising funds through selling junk food.

94 percent of the 110 respondents surveyed said that they wanted the marketing of foods such as chocolate to
students to be banned. Three-quarters of respondents also said that the most common type of school fundraising
centred around promotions using such foods.

Parents Jury manager, Ms Justine Hodge, said that many parents were also concerned with food companies branding schools’ material with their logos and sponsoring read-a-thons, spell-a-thons and sporting events to make a
‘commercial impact with children’.

By allowing a food company to associate its name with a school, there is an implied sense of approval of that
company’s product,’ Ms Hodge said.

According to The Herald Sun, one of the new and popular fundraising methods employed by schools and other
community groups is to sell doughnuts. Ms Susanna Collier, Krispy Kreme’s marketing chief, likens the approach to a lamington drive. ‘We like to participate with people, to give something back to the community, so it’s a win-win
situation,’ she said.

Nutritionist Dr Cate Burns believes that raising funds by selling chocolates and doughnuts encourages considerable consumption. She said that companies have a right to ‘produce and market a product that is a treat. But the mechanism
of marketing using schools gives them access to a huge population of children and parents. These children will pester parents to buy the product.’

Yet Ms Collier maintains that ‘we do not approach schools or advertise to them, they contact us.’

Principal Darrell Mullins from Maramba Primary school says he will not use Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a fundraising
tool again. ‘Our canteen doesn’t carry that sort of food and we wouldn’t want it as part of the staple diet. I doubt that
we’d do it again because we had differing views from our community about the suitability of promoting that product,’
he said.

For further information, visit Parents Jury Healthy Schools website.

 

 

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